Enhanced activity of the Na+/H+ antiporter is increasingly reported as a feature of cells from hypertensive subjects but the intracellular pH (ipH) dependency of its activity has not been examined. This study was designed to characterize the kinetic properties of the Na+/H+ antiporter in lymphocytes from adult spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and in those from age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) controls. Steady-state ipH, estimated from the measurement of BCECF fluorescence, was significantly lower in lymphocytes from the SHR than in those from WKY rats (7.09 +/- 0.02, n = 17 and 7.17 +/- 0.03, n = 19, respectively, P less than 0.025). The velocity of the antiporter determined from the product of the change in intracellular hydrogen ion concentration (i[H+]) by the buffering power measured concurrently at each starting ipH exhibited similar kinetic parameters in SHR and WKY cells: Vmax, 72 +/- 18 vs. 79 +/- 24 mM H+/30 s; pKH, 10.04 +/- 0.87 vs. 8.49 +/- 0.80; and Hill coefficient, 1.67 +/- 0.12 vs. 1.44 +/- 0.10, respectively. Likewise, no significant differences were observed between SHR and WKY cells in either the Km (29 +/- 5 and 32 +/- 8 mM, respectively) or the Vmax (6.0 +/- 1.0 and 5.53 +/- 1.0 mM H+/30 s, respectively) of the sodium activation curve. We conclude that while the ipH of SHR lymphocytes is reduced, the kinetic properties of the Na+/H+ antiporter are virtually identical in SHR and WKY lymphocytes. Consequently, a primary abnormality in the activity of this antiporter is not an inherent feature of lymphocytes from the SHR model of genetic hypertension. We propose that the activity of the Na+/H+ antiporter in SHR cells is apt to be increased as a result of reduction in ipH which dictates a higher set point in its steady-state activity.